10 November 2018

Weekend Cooking: Ravioli Lasagna

Weekend Cooking at Beth Fish ReadsAlthough I'm generally a cook-from-scratch kind of woman, I can't deny the convenience of some types of prepared foods. I almost always have cans of beans, jarred pasta sauce, and boxed chicken broth in the house. Sometimes I just want a no-fuss, quick meal after a long day at work.

Thanks to the March 2006 issues of Food & Wine magazine, I've found a way to put together a whole slew of store-bought ingredients for a delicious lasagna wannabe. Over the years, I've tweaked the original recipe for Vegetable-and-Ravioli Lasagna to suit our tastes, but Food & Wine's version is is also good.

I was reminded of this recipe because I'm about to head out for my annual fall lace workshop, and one of my contributions is to provide an Italian-inspired meal for Saturday's dinner. This is what I'm making this year.

Note that as you're reading this post, I'll already be out of town, so don't be surprised if I'm late to visit your blogs. I'll get there as soon as I can. Also the photo of the plated lasagna is from the Food & Wine site. Finally, despite the way it looks, my photo of the ingredients is not a Wegman's advertisement! I'm a happy customer, not a paid promoter of their products.

Weekend Cooking: Ravioli LasagnaThe biggest change I made to the recipe was to omit the roasted/grilled vegetables. I usually use my own homemade pasta sauce, which includes vegetables, so I don't add more. But even when I use store-bought sauce, I leave the veggies out; the spinach ravioli seems to be enough.

I have made this ravioli lasagna without boiling the pasta before baking it. The recipe works just fine that way, if you add about half again as much sauce.

Variations: I usually use half mild and half hot Italian sausage. Sometimes I use one package cheese ravioli, one spinach, and one mushroom. The recipe can be cut in half and baked in an 8-by-8-inch pan.

Here's my version of the recipe; click the link for the original.

Ravioli Lasagna
Adapted from Food & Wine
Serves 8

  • Weekend Cooking: Ravioli Lasagna1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 mild Italian pork sausages (6 ounces), casing removed
  • 2 hot Italian pork sausages (6 ounces), casing removed
  • 1 (24-ounce) jar marinara sauce, or vegetable pasta sauce
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 (14-ounce) packages fresh cheese ravioli
  • 1 (14-ounce) package fresh spinach-and-cheese ravioli
  • 12 ounces (3 cups) shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Preheat the oven to 375F. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Lightly oil a 9-by-13-inch baking pan (3-quart baking dish).

In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil until shimmering. Add the sausage and cook over moderately high heat, stirring and breaking up the lumps with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Add the marinara sauce and the water and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add all the ravioli to the boiling water and cook until al dente. Drain the ravioli and return them to the pot. Add the sausage marinara mixture and toss gently to coat the ravioli.

Spoon one-third of the ravioli and sauce into the baking dish. Sprinkle with 1 cup of the mozzarella and 1 tablespoon of the Parmesan. Repeat two more times (to make three layers in total).

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes, until bubbling. Remove the foil and bake 25 minutes until browned and bubbling. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
_______
Weekend Cooking hosted by www.BethFishReads.comWeekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.

NOTE: Mr. Linky sometimes is mean and will give you an error message. He's usually wrong and your link went through just fine the first time. Grrrr.
_______

12 comments:

rhapsodyinbooks 11/10/18, 6:11 AM  

Looks very good! I imagine with roasted/grilled vegetables it would almost be like a ratatouille, which sounds good also!

Mae Travels 11/10/18, 6:36 AM  

Wegmans! I wish I lived in their territory. I'm sure your delicious pasta dish is better because of their products!

Enjoy the lace workshop.

best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

gluten Free A_Z Blog 11/10/18, 7:40 AM  

I like to cook from scratch but lets face it, there are times that I need something fast and easy. This recipe looks like a winner- thanks

Jackie McGuinness 11/10/18, 8:04 AM  

I must be the only person on this earth that wouldn't choose Italian as a favourite. But this doesn't sound too cheesy to me and John would be in heaven if I made this.
The cover of Food and Wine reminded me of the magazine (free) put out by our LCBO, government liquor controlled agency.
Food and Drink - here is a link to their latest digital edition, hopefully you can open it out of country.
http://foodanddrink.ca/fooddrink/magazine/en/Autumn2018/FDAU18ENG.html#

bermudaonion 11/10/18, 8:21 AM  

Looks simple and delicious!

Claudia 11/10/18, 9:13 AM  

Sounds delicious no matter which way you look at it. I too use quick cuts as needed, if the brands and ingredients are good.

Deb in Hawaii 11/10/18, 11:19 AM  

It looks delicious and sometimes you just need to use shortcuts--especially when the results are so good. Making lasagna can be a pain so this version is perfect for a weeknight or busy weekend meal.

Have a great trip. As usual, I look forward to seeing pictures of your beautiful work!

SuziQoregon 11/10/18, 11:32 AM  

Saving this one. Sounds delicious

Claudia 11/10/18, 3:13 PM  

Sounds delicious no matter which way you look at it. I too use quick cuts as needed, if the brands and ingredients are good.

Abigail Pearson 11/10/18, 4:24 PM  

Wow this recipe looks amazing, I'm going to have to try it one of these days.

Les in Oregon 11/11/18, 12:03 AM  

I just printed this out and plan to make it early this week. It sounds delicious and perfect for our chilly evening! Thanks, Candace!

Les in Oregon 11/16/18, 11:18 PM  

I had to come back and tell you I made the Ravioli Lasagna tonight for my husband and mom. We all LOVED it! It was so simple and delicious (I used ravioli and tortellini from from Costco - didn't have enough ravioli) that I may never make "real" lasagna again. Thank you, Candace!!

Thanks for stopping by. I read all comments and may respond here, via e-mail, or on your blog. I visit everyone who comments, but not necessarily right away.

I cannot turn off word verification, but if you are logged into Blogger you can ignore the captcha. I have set posts older than 14 days to be on moderation. I can no longer accept anonymous comments. I'm so sorry if this means you have to register or if you have trouble commenting.

Copyright

All content and photos (except where noted) copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads 2008-2020. All rights reserved.

Quantcast

Thanks!

To The Blogger Guide, Blogger Buster, Tips Blogger, Our Blogger Templates, BlogU, and Exploding Boy for the code for customizing my blog. To Old Book Illustrations for my ID photo. To SEO for meta-tag analysis. To Blogger Widgets for the avatars in my comments and sidebar gadgets. To Review of the Web for more gadgets. To SuziQ from Whimpulsive for help with my comments section. To Cool Tricks N Tips for my Google +1 button.

Quick Linker

Services

SEO

  © Blogger template Coozie by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP